“The reasons for searching are to learn, to make informed decisions, to evaluate applications of knowledge, to find truth”… Mona McCormick

I have spent a lot of time searching for information about the Provisional Adoption Order.  At times it is has felt as if there are too many questions and that for every question answered there are ten questions that have only just been discovered.  Yet the experience of searching has been all encompassing, driven as it is for personal and emotional reasons.  The search almost threatens to take over and become the reason for searching.  So reminding oneself  that the actual goal is not only to have the information but once you have it, to do something with it.

“Certain kinds of information will become obsolete, and knowing how to think has become as important as knowing what to think.”  Sonia Bodi.

During a search you have to scan every scrap of information that you come across to find what might be a clue.  But not every lead is a good lead and just because you have found something does not mean that you should keep hold of it or use it.  The acquiring of information is a skill but it does not make us wise; wisdom is taking information and applying it, knowing how to use it appropriately in the correct setting for the desired result.  So as I scan the various bits of information I have to choose what to use and what to ignore and for that I must have a filter, and this is something that has changed as I have discovered more.

As I have searched I have made the shocking (to me anyway) discovery that there is actually very little real information saved anywhere for someone who has been Provisionally Adopted.  This came to light during a recent conversation with an archivist who told me that while there was a legal obligation for the courts to store adoption records it was different with Provisional Adoption Orders.  More often than not the applicants (those seeking a Provisional Adoption Order) were handed the complete and only court record and that virtually nothing was kept in the court archive.  There would have been exceptions, but as there was no legal reason for the courts to follow up the applicants beyond issuing them with a Provisional Adoption Order.  The reality was why waste time when there was nothing that the court could do if it was discovered that no adoption had taken place.

With that in mind and as I wait for an answer from the final archive to arrive, I have slowly come to the realisation that maybe I have been approaching this the wrong way.  I have been involved in wide sweeping searches for any information relating to my Provisional Adoption.  The results have been depressing, not only is there no evidence that there ever was any attempt at adoption, but the strong probability is that apart from the records that I hold there is no other evidence to support the existence of a Provisional Adoption either.  This leaves me in a totally different place and one where I am unsure what to do next.  I have answered my initial question but found that I now have a totally different ball park to work in and one that I am not sure that I like very much.

So a word of advice to anyone who is adopting – make sure that you get legal assistance and that you double or triple check that you have done everything possible to ensure that the adoption is done correctly.  Don’t leave anything to chance or wishful thinking!